A Court of Muses

by Sarina Dorie

  If only more of them were like Princess Steorra and Prince Elric-Atherius. Only now it was just the prince, the black sheep, ostracized for his charity. Prince Elric-Atherius might not have been the sharpest blade in the arsenal, but Errol would have preferred to serve him, a king who strived for kindness rather than tyranny.

  Errol hated dungeon duty more than watching the royal family consume the sanity of artists as they amused themselves during the king’s monthly salons. The smell of blood and the sound of Princess Perrusia’s screams were horrible enough, but Errol also heard the princes and princesses laugh and jeer, and it sickened him that this was the family he worked for.

  He had been denied requests to resign before. He didn’t doubt his superiors would deny him again on behalf of the king. For the first time in his career, Errol seriously considered deserting. But if he did, there was still Alma.

  He couldn’t abandon her. She needed him. Even if she was currently vexed with him, eventually she would see she was being unreasonable. They were family. They needed to stick together. Once they were on speaking terms again, he would approach her about returning to her old job at Mistress Cadwynn’s.

  Until then, he would perform his duties with as much integrity as he could muster.

  Norris shivered uncontrollably when he heard the princess beg for her death. Errol thought the lad far too young to be assigned this shift, though Norris had insisted he was up to the task.

  To give the lad a break, Errol asked him to go to the kitchen. “Fetch everyone a drink of water. The guards would benefit from something cold to parch their thirst.”

  Norris saluted and hustled off, hips swaying.

  The lad probably had secrets. Errol could have used magic to determine whether Norris was actually a girl trying to pass herself off as a boy, but in knowing, Errol would have to report that to his superiors. Errol’s opinion of his superiors was already unflattering, and he didn’t doubt they would discharge Norris from duty if he ended up being a she. Errol found no fault in Norris’s work and didn’t want his soldier to be punished. For that reason, he let Norris keep his secrets.

  The king glided down the stairs, head held high. Muse magic radiated off him. He stopped paces away.

  Errol bowed his head. He reached for the keys at his belt.

  “I am here to see the prisoner.” King Viridios flashed an uncertain smile, full of nerves and hesitation.

  It was unlike his usual blank expression. The flicker of emotion melted into the apathetic visage Errol was used to.

  That was enough to give Errol pause. He tasted the muse magic in the air again, noting the flavor of earthy notes of sorrow and pining. This was not the essence of his king.

  “You were much closer to fooling me this time, Your Highness. You are improving.” Errol inclined his head in acknowledgment.

  “What gave me away this time?” Prince Elric-Atherius asked.

  “You haven’t mastered your primero face yet, Your Highness.”

  “Primero?”

  “It’s a Spanish card game popular among sailors that involves bluffing and betting. Perhaps you’re more familiar with as nas, the Persian game?” That had been the vice of many men in the cavalry. He might have lost money in the game like others if he’d had time.

  Prince Elric-Atherius, wearing the king’s face, frowned. “No. I shall have to try it sometime and see if it improves my abilities to lie and cheat like the rest of my family.”

  Errol nodded.

  A scream erupted from the dungeon behind Errol. He would have put up a sound-muffling spell, but the king had expressly forbidden it. There was to be no camouflaging or softening of what was going on.

  The prince started at the sound. “Who’s in there now with her?”

  “Prince Beorhtsige.”

  Elric-Atherius grimaced. “You wouldn’t be the sort to play a trick on me, would you? If you knew it was me, but my father was in there, you wouldn’t send me in just for the sport of it?”

  Errol bowed his head. “No, Your Highness. I would lose my job if I permitted you entry.” Not to mention such a prank was more akin to what his family would do. “If you don’t mind my impertinence, might I ask why you wish to go see the prisoner?”

  “I would grant her wish and give her a quick and painless death.”

  A muffled sob came from the dungeon.

  Prince Elric-Atherius flinched back. “I shall take my leave now.” He gave a curt bow as if forgetting he shouldn’t bow to Errol. “Until we meet again.”

  Over the course of the next two months, the king sent his physician to tend to the prisoner’s injuries. Errol thought that meant they would be executing Princess Perrusia. Instead, the royal family mended her broken bones, healed her open wounds, and tended to her fevers brought on by infection so that they could begin the torture anew.

  Errol spent sleepless nights trying to find a comfortable position with his new wings. He wasn’t like Helga, able to maintain a glamour in his sleep. He could only glamour them out of the way while he was awake. When he rolled onto them in his sleep, they woke him up. Between the burden on his back and the festering of his conscience, he spent most nights staring at the cracks in the wall in sleepless exhaustion. He loathed the royal family it was his duty to protect. It was this family that had driven a wedge between him and his sister, the only kin he had.

  During the course of those months, Errol went several times to see his sister at her home, but she wouldn’t answer the door. He showed up in the kitchen, but she told him she was busy. In the time since the ceremony, he’d seen less of his sister than the times he’d been in the air navy.

  Prince Elric-Atherius tried several times more to sneak into the dungeon while Errol was on duty, using glamours to make himself invisible, enchantments to make men fall asleep, and even muse magic, but he didn’t succeed. If he came when the other guards were on duty, they didn’t report him. Perhaps they were too afraid to imply one of the royal family was attempting to break a rule.

  Either that or Prince Elric-Atherius preferred to test Errol.

  Errol welcomed the challenge of the prince’s attempts, silently hoping he would succeed one of these days—though when he did, he didn’t know what the consequences would be. The prince would probably receive a slap on the wrist. Errol would lose his job—and possibly his head.

  When the prince attempted to bribe Errol, he just crossed his arms. “The glamours are one thing, but now you insult my honor.”

  Prince Elric-Atherius truly looked repentant for that. He went a week without attempting to sneak in. At least not while Errol was on duty.

  While Errol was drilling men on formations in the practice field, Norris ran up to him out of breath. “Sir! I must speak with you. Privately. It’s urgent.” The young private’s eyes were wide with worry. “Can we go somewhere we won’t be overheard?”

  If it wasn’t one figurative fire Errol was putting out, it was another.

  “Of course, Private Norris. I am always available to listen.”

  He could only imagine Norris had finally been discovered and didn’t know what to do. He hadn’t been captain long enough to know how one handled a female soldier. Helga was female. But she had been open about it—and had already proven her worth as a battle-trained Valkyrie.

  Errol left his men to drill on their own.

  “You aren’t permitted any breaks until I return and see improvement,” he told them before starting off with Norris.

  “I have a secret, but I’ve been jinxed, so I can’t tell you,” Norris whispered.

  “Shall I guess your secret?” Errol asked, not particularly looking forward to this. It would embarrass him and Norris both if he wasn’t correct—and also embarrass them if he was.

  Norris practically pranced around Errol as he followed him toward the stables where they might have a private word.

  Norris’ voice rose to a girlish squeal. “Not that way, sir. We need to go to
ward your office, so you’ll see them. If you see them, I won’t have to try to tell you. You’ll be able to guess.”

  “See who, Private?” Errol turned toward his office.

  “It’s part of the jinx. I can’t say.”

  Errol took hold of Norris’ elbow. He was strong enough and skilled enough now to transport them both to the administrative offices where most of the officers did their paperwork and met for conferences. Norris teetered off balance and crashed into Errol.

  Errol muffled the sound so that only Norris would hear him. “Why has someone jinxed your tongue so that you can’t tell me your secret?” He started out of his office to the hallways that led toward other offices.

  Norris tugged Errol toward the entryway. “You’ll know once you see for yourself. Only you should probably make us invisible, sir. You do it better than I do.”

  Errol did so. He followed the private.

  Errol was genuinely curious—and concerned. “Has someone been threatening you? Making your choice to become a soldier difficult?”

  “I don’t rightly know how to answer that, sir.” Norris pointed through the doorway at two figures walking briskly across the grounds.

  “Who is that?” Errol asked.

  “Pickled papers and hairy woodsman.” Norris pointed to his mouth and shook his head.

  Errol squinted at the men as they receded into the distance. He could distinctly make out the silver uniform of the officer, but not any particular details of the other. An enchantment was at work. He couldn’t see with his eyes, but he could feel with his senses. The trail of magic in the air left a flavor of broken dreams and muse magic. The other tasted distinctly like brandy, pipe smoke, and greed. The latter Errol took to be Major General Reid. The former was Prince Elric-Atherius.

  “Did Major General Reid jinx your mouth?” Errol asked.

  Norris gave a quick shake of the head. “Someone else.”

  “Prince Elric-Atherius?”

  Norris tried to answer. “Wenches drink kilty port.”

  A tongue-twister jinx was more bothersome than cruel, but it was an effective way to keep someone silent in a nonviolent manner. Errol remembered his youthful days in the navy and the tricks he and the other mates used to play on each other. Half the fun of a tongue-twister jinx had been figuring out ways around it.

  He had excelled at bending the rules without breaking them.

  “I take it Prince Elric-Atherius realized you overheard something, and this was his way of keeping you silent.”

  Norris nodded.

  “Does this have something to do with Prince Elric-Atherius wanting to go to the dungeon? Did he trick Major General Reid? Enchant him?” Errol asked.

  Norris didn’t answer.

  Errol nodded decisively. “Remain here. You may inform Captain Helga I have made an unforeseen trip to the dungeon, and I may need her assistance with my men so that they will be dismissed at an appropriate time from their drills.” As much as Errol thought it would do his men good to practice for a while without him, he didn’t want them to follow his orders for hours if it turned out he was detained that long.

  * * *

  Errol transported himself inside the castle to the floor above the dungeon, hurrying down the steps in the hope he wasn’t too late.

  “Has anyone been down this way in the last few minutes?” Errol demanded of the guard.

  The man at the door flinched. It was Paega. “No, sir. All has been quiet. The king is having a small salon of philosophers and theologians upstairs, and it has been keeping the muses amused.” Paega laughed at his joke.

  “No one has been this way? No one at all?” Errol asked.

  Paega shook his head. Errol borrowed the keys from Paega and entered the dungeon, a task he’d only been ordered to do once before while on duty. He saw no sign of Prince Elric-Atherius or the major general.

  He had just finished locking the door again when the crunch of boots thudded against the stone steps.

  Errol crossed his arms and leaned against the door.

  Prince Elric-Atherius’ eyes went wide upon seeing him. He hadn’t even disguised himself this time. Errol just shook his head at the prince and smiled. He had to admire his determination.

  Major General Reid stepped forward. Errol saluted. Paega did as well as he edged away from the door.

  Reid’s eyes narrowed as he took in Errol blocking his path. “I didn’t know you were on duty, soldier.”

  Errol always hated it when his superiors couldn’t even be bothered to call him by the proper rank. “I am on duty whenever I am needed, sir. It is my honor to serve my king and his kingdom.”

  “I require the keys to the dungeon,” Reid said.

  Errol’s gaze flickered to Prince Elric-Atherius, who wouldn’t meet his eyes.

  “I’m sorry, sir. I can’t do that.” Errol stood taller. “We are under express orders by the king and queen that Prince Elric-Atherius is not permitted entry.”

  Reid held up a letter that appeared to be written by King Viridios, stating his son was allowed to enter the dungeon when he wished. It was even stamped with the king’s seal. If the king had relinquished his mandate that his son be banned from the dungeon, he would have announced it to all commanding officers.

  And the prince would not be wearing guilt around his frame like a cloak.

  “It is a very fine forgery,” Errol said. Surely the major general had to see it was just that. “If we went upstairs and asked the king himself, I’m certain he would tell us the same.”

  “There’s no need to trouble the king,” Prince Elric-Atherius said quickly.

  “Indeed,” Errol agreed.

  A muscle in Reid’s jaw twitched. “I assure you this is not a forgery. You will now unlock the dungeon for His Highness.”

  Errol assessed his superior for enchantments but felt none. He sank his awareness deeper into his soul, trying to use his own muse magic to delve into Reid to see what might inspire him. He could sense nothing out of the ordinary.

  “That was an order, Captain Errol,” Reid said. “Or do you wish to be punished for insubordination?”

  Errol stood his ground. “It is insubordination if I do not follow the king’s orders.”

  “This is mutiny. I will have you discharged for disobeying your commanding officer and thrown in the brig. You will open that door or bring these consequences down upon yourself.”

  Errol had no doubt Reid could do such a thing as one of his superiors. He didn’t doubt he would. It was Prince Elric-Atherius that disappointed him. After all his shows of being good and charitable, he would cost Errol his position. Even if Errol couldn’t resign, it didn’t mean he wouldn’t be punished by being demoted, imprisoned, or executed.

  Paega swallowed, the sound an audible gulp in the silence that stretched between them.

  Errol kept his voice neutral despite the way his blood boiled. “Which is a worse punishment? Losing my position or losing my head when the king learns I’ve ignored his orders?”

  And yet, the king might not save him from imprisonment. He had seen the king’s indifference to his soldiers already.

  “Very well,” Reid said. “You leave me no choice. Paega will be forced to escort you to the brig where you will await—”

  “Come now,” Prince Elric-Atherius said. “There’s no need for threats. We are reasonable men. I’m certain Captain Errol and I can come to an understanding.” He cleared his throat and inclined his head. “Father and Mother only wished me not to enter the dungeon because they don’t want me to kill the prisoner. You know that is the truth of it. You were there the day Mother started this and I objected. I give you my word I will not injure or cause the prisoner’s death. I simply wish to speak with her. Then I will leave, and no one will be the wiser.”

  Errol wanted to believe the prince’s words were meant in good faith. Yet the royal family had already shattered his faith in them with their lack of integrity. If
Errol put his last shred of hope in Elric, he might betray it.

  Errol didn’t want to lose his position and rank, but he couldn’t imagine the major general could keep him in the brig forever, especially not for following the king’s orders. Errol would simply tell the general why he was there, and he would be released. They’d have to see he’d been unjustly punished.

  Then again, General Hereweald had never been fair and just. He was as bad as the family he worked for.

  “Please,” Prince Elric-Atherius said, taking Errol’s arm. “Just let me speak with her for a moment. I need to do this.” His eyes were so mournful, the deaths of those who recently had been murdered raw in his expression.

  It was that pain and wretchedness that finally convinced Errol to allow them to pass. Even so, he wouldn’t be the one to open the door. Nor was he going to allow Paega. Neither would have any part in Reid’s disobedience.

  “Lieutenant Paega, go monitor the hallway above,” Errol said.

  Paega gratefully dodged past the prince and major general. Errol tossed the keys to Reid. “I will not be your accomplice. In any case, I am not on guard duty.” He stepped aside and allowed Reid to escort Prince Elric-Atherius inside.

  He might be making a mistake. The prince might have been lying to get his way so that he could end the prisoner’s life. It would have been the right thing to do, rather than prolong her torture, but if Prince Elric-Atherius did execute her, Errol would never be able to put his trust in him again. The last shard of optimism in his soul would be trampled under the boot of the harsh world he lived in.

  Errol had practiced his listening and seeing through stone walls since the days Semmy had once taught him, and now he drew on those skills again. His heart felt heavy as his thoughts flickered to his friend. But now was not the moment for distraction.

  Errol closed his eyes and swept to the other side of the door. He projected his entire awareness into the other room.

  Major General Reid opened the heavy door for Prince Elric-Atherius.

  “Out of the cell, you mangy harpy,” he said.

  The prince drew up a stool and sat. He frowned as the major general went inside the cell and dragged a woman out by the arm. She whimpered pathetically.